A Family
by H-a-r-d-l-e-t
Summary: A set of AU drabbles of Rich and Grace as parents (rated M for heavy swearing- we all know Rich's favorite word- and possible slight suggestion of sexual things later on)
1. Our Story

"Alice is always so sad when we leave, it breaks my heart. She's gotten so big," Grace commented as she and Rich entered their flat after returning from Alo's farm to visit him and Mini.

Rich chuckled with a nod. "Yeah, thank fuck she hasn't become too much like Mini."

Grace rolled her eyes, gently hitting his arm. "Richard."

He smiled at that and took her hand in his, kissing the finger where her wedding ring rested. "I'm glad she's not too much like Alo either, she's a good mixture of them, I suppose."

Grace smiled, playfully rolling her eyes at him. "Mini and Alo are good parents, they've done a good job at raising her so far."

Rich nodded and pulled Grace closer, kissing her cheek, then down her neck.

She giggled lightly then moved slightly away, looking at Rich in the eyes. "Do you think we would be good parents, Rich?"

Rich smiled, kissing her forehead, which was crinkled from the uncharacteristically serious look on her face. "I think we would be fucking amazing parents, Gracey, and you know it."

Grace smiled, looking down at their hands that were intertwined. "I think... I want to start our own family."

She looked up to see Rich smiling and slightly dazed, and he felt his heartbeat quicken slightly. "Let's do it then, yeah? It'll be a new chapter to our story." Grace smiled widely at him, leaning up to kiss him.

He pulled away barely, lingering closely to her. "Probably the most fun chapter to make too..."

She giggled at this, slapping his chest. "Richard!"

And with that, her pulled her towards the bedroom, _their_ bedroom, ready to take on this next chapter of their lives together.

* * *

**I changed Mini and Alo's daughter's name from Grace because the main reason she was named that was because of the death and I liked Alice. :)**


	2. A Family

Grace parked the car in front of hers and Rich's flat and grabbed the bags of groceries from the back seat before locking the car and making her way to the front door with her hands full. After she managed to unlock the door, she walked into the kitchen to set the bags down, and began putting away the groceries. She could feel butterflies in her stomach as she got to the bottom of the last bag and pulled out a small white box. Grace and Rich had been trying to get pregnant for the past six months and although trying was fun, she couldn't help but feel disappointed that it hadn't happened yet. But, after a couple of false alarms and failed tests, she had a feeling that this test would be different.

Once the groceries were all put away, Grace went into their bathroom and with slightly shaky hands, took the test from the box.

Rich had been supportive and optimistic- for once- every time Grace got discouraged by the failed tests, but she knew he was just as disappointed as she was. So this time, she decided not to tell him about the symptoms she had been feeling the last few weeks and waited until he was out with Alo to take the test.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, Grace walked back into the bathroom where she had laid the pregnancy test and picked it up. She looked closely at it and felt like she might cry when she saw the two solid lines. She practically ran to her cellphone and immediately texted Rich.

_I need to talk to you, do you mind coming home soon? xx_

She was so excited she barely paid attention to how nervous that text might make Rich when he read it.

* * *

Rich was out having a pint (or two... okay three) and was trying to hide his smile as Alo talked about Alice beginning to help him with things on the farm. His thoughts immediately went to Grace, so when his phone vibrated, he was glad to see a text from her. This happiness was immediately replaced with worry as he read the text."Ah shit, Als. I have to get home, Mate. Grace needs to talk to me."

Alo frowned for a moment but nodded. "I should probably be getting back to Mins and Alice anyways. This was fun, Richie, we should do it again soon." Rich rolled his eyes at this and playfully pushed Alo's shoulder.

"Never call me Richie again." He nodded his head towards his best mate and set the money down before heading home to Grace. He got on the bus, already knowing before he went to the pub that he shouldn't drive, and decided to text Grace back.

_On my way now. Everything alright?_

Before he got a response though, he was already at their road and got off the bus, walking down the sidewalk to their flat. He opened the door and nervously walked into their bedroom where he saw the lights on.

"I came as soon as I could. What's wrong? Is everything alright?"

* * *

Grace was sitting on the bed holding the pregnancy test in her hands as she heard the front door open and then Rich was there, asking if she was okay. She smiled and stood to hug him.

"I'm pregnant, Rich. We're having a baby."

Rich stared down at her with a look of awe and shock on his face. "W-we are? It's finally happened?"

Grace smiled and nodded, leaning up to kiss him. Rich found it difficult to kiss her back properly due to the huge grin on his face that he couldn't shake.

"We're going to be a family. I love you, Grace face. I love you so much."

Grace smiled. "I know. I love you too."


	3. Little Kicks

Grace was in the kitchen, making Rich a cup of tea while he was working on moving things out of their spare bedroom to their bedroom. For the past few years they had been living there since attending University, the spare room was used as a space for Grace to practice routines to teach the little girls at the studio where she worked, and an area for Rich's desk to type articles for the music magazine he worked for. But now with a baby girl well on the way, Grace had been asking Rich to make room so they could start looking for cribs, and so Grace could start decorating the nursery, something she had been dreaming about since they found out about her.

Grace walked into the bedroom, which was small and cozy, and overlooked their small backyard where Grace had planted bright flowers the Spring before while Rich just shook his head and stated that, "they're just going to die anyway." Now, Rich was working on removing things out of his desk to get ready to move it, but stopped when he saw Grace holding out the mug for him.

He smirked and walked over to her, giving her a kiss. "Thanks for this. Moving all my shit was harder than I thought it would be."

Grace rolled her eyes playfully. "Oh yeah? And is that why you've been putting this off for the past month?" Rich groaned and kissed her once more before taking a sip of the tea and then going back to the desk.

"I can help, I'll take down your posters." He nodded, but looked up at her. "Just be careful, yeah?" Grace shook her head. "I can do it, I'm pregnant, not braindead. And besides, they're not too high up." Rich rolled his eyes at that but let her handle it.

She moved to the wall that was covered with various posters of metal bands Rich listened to and smiled, the room was so _him _and now it would be _their _baby's. Carefully, Grace reached for the tacks at the top of one of the posters and successfully removed them along with the bottom tacks, then rolled up the poster and stuck it in a box. She reached up for the next poster but this time as she stretched, she felt a light poking feeling in her stomach, and immediately her hands moved to her bump.

Rich looked over towards her as he continued taking things out of the desk, but stopped when he noticed Grace. "Is everything okay?" Grace felt the poke again but this time it continued. "I think the baby's kicking!" She tore her eyes away from her belly and looked up at Rich who was now standing beside her with a confused smile.

Grace took his hand in hers and placed it over where the feeling was coming from. He looked up puzzled for a moment, "I can't feel-" He stopped midsentence and Grace smiled as he looked down at where their hands were in amazement. "That's the baby? She's kicking."

Rich let out a contented sigh and looked up at Grace. "I can't believe this... Fuck... I just..." He didn't know how to describe how happy he felt in that moment, so he just smiled and kissed Grace.


	4. Elise

_**"Sometimes I think about what would have happened if me and Grace had a baby."**_

* * *

Grace felt tears swell in her eyes as the nurse laid the crying bundle in her arms.

Elise Violet Hardbeck.

She looked up at Rich, smiling widely despite her exhaustion. "Isn't she beautiful, Rich?"

Rich smiled and nodded, not taking his eyes off the little girl in Grace's arms. His mouth fell open in awe the instant he saw her and it hadn't quite closed since. He felt speechless looking down at the small baby.

Grace looked back down, the crying had stopped and now she was laying in Grace's arms looking up at Rich and Grace. Grace reached down and lightly traced her finger along Elise's face, watching as she closed her eyes.

Rich's eyes broke away from Elise and moved to look at Grace. He didn't think she had ever looked this beautiful, holding their baby girl in her arms. Rich leaned over and kissed Grace's head, then leaned down to kiss Elise's forehead. He finally spoke up after a few moments of quiet. "Look at her, you did amazing Grace Face."

Grace looked up at him and smiled, sitting up slightly in the hospital bed to rest Elise in his arms. Rich felt nervous taking the baby in his arms, she was so fragile and small and beautiful. As soon as Elise was in his arms, he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Grace watched as Rich walked over to the chair beside the bed and rocked her back and forth slowly.

Her hand was exposed from the blanket and Rich reached out to rub his index finger across it. Elise's eyes began to open and her small fist unclenched and grabbed onto Rich's finger. He felt tears in his eyes and looked up at Grace. "This…I ca…fuck me."

Grace giggled and smiled.

Rich looked down at Elise again. "Hey baby girl, I'm your Daddy and this is your Mummy. We're going to take good care of you, yeah?" Elise looked up at him and he felt a single tear roll down his cheek, Rich didn't bother wiping it away, he was too busy looking at his new bundle of joy.


	5. Patience

Rich was pacing around the nursery as Grace showered, growing more and more concerned as Elise continued to cry in his arms.

"Shhh baby girl, you're okay, everything's good yeah?" Elise's cries continued and Rich checked her diaper once more to make sure she didn't need to be changed, and he knew she wasn't hungry because Grace had just fed her.

He grew more distressed as the cries continued and so he did the most logical thing- called for Grace.

"Grace," he called out in a somewhat panicked tone, hoping she was out of the shower.

"What is it, is Elise okay?" Grace answered in an equally panicky tone after sprinting into the nursery.

"She won't stop crying- fuck. I don't know what's wrong. Do you think she's sick? Maybe we should take her to the hosp-"

Rich's rambling was interrupted by Grace taking Elise into her arms and rocking her slowly. He looked up at her in amazment as she began humming and softly dancing, causing Elise to completely settle down in her arms.

Grace looked down at Elise who had fallen asleep in her arms, then moved to lay her gently in her crib.

"How did you do that?" Rich asked in bewilderment as Grace smiled and began to walk out of the nursery.

"You just have to have patience, Richard."

"Smartarse." He said with a teasing smile, shaking his head before kissing Elise on the forehead then followed Grace into the living room.


	6. Rock-A-Bye Baby

Grace was in Elise's nursery for the third time that night. It felt like once she had settled her down to sleep after feeding her, she was hungry again and crying loudly. Grace was rocking Elise gently and singing quietly in hopes of getting her to sleep as Rich walked groggily into the nursery. He had offered from the beginning to get Elise during the night when she woke up, but she always needed to be fed by Grace.

"Still no luck?" He asked, walking over to kiss Grace's head as she shook her head.

"No... She's never done this, I don't know what else to do." At this point, Grace was exhausted and wanted to lay down.

Rich noticed this and kissed her head once more. "Why don't we take her into the bedroom, that way you can at least lay down with her."

Grace nodded and followed Rich into the bedroom as she continued to rock Elise. She carefully moved to lay down on the bed, resting Elise on her chest as she rubbed her back. In a matter of minutes, Elise had calmed and was falling asleep and Grace could feel herself drifting in and out as well.

Rich chuckled lightly and pulled them both closer to him. "You can sleep, you know?" Grace nodded with her eyes already closed and moved her head to rest against him. Rich, feeling tired himself, stayed up a few minutes longer just looking at his girls sleeping and smiled to himself. He leaned down to softly kiss Grace's cheek and then Elise's before he rested his head on Grace's and fell asleep.

* * *

**Sorry it's taken me so long to update! I love this little story and I have quite a few ideas and chapters already typed! I just need a few fillers to keep from having too much of a time gap. :)**


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